General Forum

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

mbee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:45:55 GMT

Do somebody have some news about the new products that should make the Encore less "alone" : the circular BeoNet music controller for link rooms, the 2-way Beo6 functionality on the Encore, and the BeoNet to ML box?

We initially heard something like "march" for the release of some of those products... But no news since... Maybe the launch has been delayed for software issues

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

mbee — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:19:30 GMT

Good point Trip.

I agree that it's certainly more ergonomic to display things like that (as long as you don't know exactly the order of all the covers, which would help to see if you're "approaching" the desired album!), but since when is B&O trading beauty and magic for ergonomy?

That's new for the company that designed the Beocom 2!!! (I'm joking)

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

TripEnglish — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:06:50 GMT

When I first saw the BeoSound 5 Encore as an operational unit I asked that question to one of the engineers and he said that they eye can track it more easily when it's only focused on a single point and not constantly moving up and down the arc. Considering the processor in the Encore is a specialty piece, I doubt such a simple limitation is the issue. I trust that this was a design decision. I personally prefer it and am hoping that it translates to the BeoSound 5. Opinions, as always, differ.

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

mbee — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:53:47 GMT

Stan:
My guess is that heat is one of the limiting factors for the blurry scrolling album covers. Moving those covers requires a bit of computing power, computing power generates heat which must be reliably removed or else the hardware will fail.

Hi Stan, I just remember you that we are not in 1984 anymore, so cycling images on a (small part of a) 1024x768 screen is not hard anymore for a processor. Just look at the impressive things an iPhone/iPad can display in full realtime 3D...

Instead of the processor, it can (and probably is, I don't know), the memory size which is too limited to have a lot of covers in memory (the Encore has to read the covers and store them in memory to display them in real time, which uses a lot of memory : just browse the whole content of your iTunes library with coverflow and look at the memory it takes : usually more than 2Gb. BUT if you do that with an iPhone, which is VERY limited in RAM, it's working... So you can realize that there are many ways to program something...)

If the covers are blurry, there was no technical limitation to that at the conception point (when we see what an old mobile phone can do...), so there can only be 2 solutions :

1) B&O choose to cut the cost at all stages, thus we've got something very limited (blury covers and no HD tracks playback at more than 24/96), but B&O makes HUGE profits while selling it at more than 2000€... So no hope to see a "fluid" cover circle.

2) B&O has a good hardware in it, it could display them as smoothly as in a BS5, BUT B&O has difficulties to do great programming, so now it has this bad look but there is hope that someday an update fixes this.

If someone from Struer reads this, it would be interesting to know the truth!

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

Stan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:24:08 GMT

My guess is that heat is one of the limiting factors for the blurry scrolling album covers. Moving those covers requires a bit of computing power, computing power generates heat which must be reliably removed or else the hardware will fail. The BM5 has the luxury of a fan (maybe - I assume it has one, but then again, I've never heard mine so maybe not) and (if no fan) plenty of space and cooling slots for air to circulate via convection. The Encore, not so much. Everything is in the head unit (small), the head unit doesn't have a fan. You cannot expect that one can package up the full BM5 capabilities and stick it in the BS5 head unit without compromise...

All this means you must spec a cooler running, hence lower power, CPU. Lower power CPU = blurry album covers .

Also, to the comment way above about the difficulty of finding a specific song with the BS5, there is a solution now. The Beo6... You can at least choose the first letter of the album or artist for which you are looking (hence, for ZZTop, you can just hit Z and see the list of artists starting with Z vs. spinning the wheel all the way to Z). Yes, I'm aware the Beo6 doesn't support 2-way with the Encore, but maybe some day.

Stan

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

symmes — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:56:04 GMT

I don't know how good/bad the Encore "processor" is, but network throughput is a limiting factor the BS5/BM5 combo probably doesn't experience. WiFi would be a bigger issue than direct connection. Given that, I don't understand why B&O choose to implement an inferior processor on the Encore unless, of course, the Encore was outsourced to China.

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

stefan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:09:00 GMT

mbee:

On a "classic" Beosound 5, when you turn the wheel, the covers/text turn at the same speed as the wheel, giving it something magical.

On a BS5 Encore, when you turn the wheel, there is almost immediately a blurry visual of moving covers, with a fixed cover in the middle, quickly changing.

I noticed that too. And according to my dealer this

mbee:

....a limitation due to a poor processor on the Encore.

is exactly the reason....

Stefan

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

mbee — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:20:45 GMT

I've noticed something that bothers me with the Encore :

On a "classic" Beosound 5, when you turn the wheel, the covers/text turn at the same speed as the wheel, giving it something magical.

On a BS5 Encore, when you turn the wheel, there is almost immediately a blurry visual of moving covers, with a fixed cover in the middle, quickly changing.

Am I the only one who have a problem with that? I hope that its something that will be "fixed" by an update, to get the Beosound 5 feeling, and not a limitation due to a poor processor on the Encore.

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

raveny — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:35:45 GMT

Has anyone a BS5 Encore together with a BeoSystem 3 in the same room?

I want to use the Encore with an external drive connected directly via PowerLink to the BL5s. But they were already connected to the BS3. I could use a PowerLink splitter but I am not sure if this works. Could there be a problem when the Encore and BS3 output simultaneously?

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

JOV — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:20:38 GMT

White version looks very cheap for me. Plastic style. Black glass beside white sides: ugly...

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

shinobi52 — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:45:23 GMT

And now in the beosound 5 encore is here...in WHITE :

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/beosound5-encore-white-press

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

Puncher — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:40:50 GMT

moxxey:

kimhav:

Oh yes, All password can be cracked with enough computer power; but then again using a 63 character random alpha numeric including special characters would make it with todays standard quite hard to crack.

Hold on guys, how has this thread about the Encore, moved to discussing passwords? :) Surely that should be in some randon non-B&O general forum?

Exactly! Assuming you aleady have wireless access to the internet, who's going to expend this much extra effort to nick your music!

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

moxxey — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:25:33 GMT

kimhav:

Oh yes, All password can be cracked with enough computer power; but then again using a 63 character random alpha numeric including special characters would make it with todays standard quite hard to crack.

Hold on guys, how has this thread about the Encore, moved to discussing passwords? :) Surely that should be in some randon non-B&O general forum?

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

Stan — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:38:01 GMT

For every measure there is a counter-measure. Use long random passwords, and now you have to store them somewhere. Now your password storage "vault" becomes target - use a popular one, and that makes it more likely that the bad guys will develop a crack. Use an unpopular one, and maybe it's not as strong as advertised - after all, why is it unpopular. I will encrypt them myself? well, if your computer gets compromised, don't you think the encrypted files are going to be the first place the bad guys look? after all, if it wasn't important/valuable, you probably would not have encrypted it.

Maybe you've found a completely secure and unbreakable password storage vault - now you have to worry about the passwords being captured when you use them. With a wireless network, it is not so hard - bad guys have devices called "pineapples" that are battery operated base-station like devices that they will hide nearby and will fool your computer into trying to connect - it will broadcast the SSDI of the network it is trying to penetrate - you computer will say "hey, there's that network that I'm supposed to automatically connect to, and send your long random password to connect, and now it's captured". Now, they can connect to your secure/encrypted network and start probing for other vulnerabilities...

I have a friend who does security audits for corporate networks (essentially tries to break into them with approval from the company). He has not yet found a network he cannot break into. He does not use wifi in his home. Personally, I think it is crazy to give up the convenience of surfing the web untethered because a highy motivated criminal can break into your wifi.

While it is probably true that a motivated criminal with the correct tools and knowledge can break into any network, this takes time and money, and why is this highly skilled criminal going to come after ME? Don't stand out, and you won't be a target. I'm not saying to use weak passwords, and turn off network encryption, etc.., but there are millions of wifi networks out there, skilled criminals go after high value targets... I really don't see what can be found on most home networks that is high value - you're going to go to all the effort to get a social security number, or steal my music or my pictures?

Do you have metal bars over all your windows? The best door lock in the world will not stop someone from breaking your window? Then again, it might motivate a criminal more if I had metal bars over my windows (especially if the neighbors don't) because I must have something of value to have spent this much on secuirty.

I guess my point is we can never be 100% secure. Therefore, lock your doors to keep out the hooligans, but I'm question the value of going much further... if somebody really wants to get in, they will.

Stan

Re: Beosound 5 Encore is here...

kimhav — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:13:45 GMT

Oh yes, All password can be cracked with enough computer power; but then again using a 63 character random alpha numeric including special characters would make it with todays standard quite hard to crack. For Firefox there are pwgen and Secure Password Generator which are two nice tools if one wants easy access to a random generator. I make use of pwgen and uses random password on all forum that I'm active; then again using either Keepass Password Safe or ThinkVantage Password Manager to keep tryack of the pws.